The present invention relates to document inserters, and more particularly to an accessory interface circuit for use in a multi-station document inserter.
Known multi-station document inserters employing document handling accessories such as mailing machines, stackers, zip code markers, envelope deflectors, and the like, generally employ discrete elements and are manufactured and wired for each specific customer application. Each such document inserter is manufactured as virtually a one-of-a kind machine with the attendant high costs associated therewith. Such apparatus typically require many weeks to design and manufacture, require substantial operator training time to operate, and are difficult and time consuming to service. One such multi-station document inserter document inserter is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,606,728 issued on Sept. 21, 1971 to Sather et al., and assigned to Bell & Howell Co., Phillipsburg, N.J. The accessories used with the known multi-station document inserters are hard wired to the inserter such that a change in the location or function of a particular accessory requires rewiring of the inserter and/or reprogramming thereof.